[CleveRocks]

Originally Posted by mowgli's mom

Am I correct in assuming that when you check in at ME at the airport, it checks you into the hotel?

I heard that people went straight to the park instead of the hotel, so they must have gotten their passes somehow.

I realize I'm responding to a post that's well over 2 years old, but since this is a "sticky" thread I thought I'd better set the record straight.

Checking in at the DME counter at the airport has nothing to do with checking-in at your resort. You are checking-in at the DME counter so that you can be assigned to a bus ... but this has NOTHING to do with your resort and it doesn't replace going to your resort and checking-in at your resort's front desk.

Moreover, there's no such thing as a Disney's Magical Express bus that drops guests off at a theme park. A DME bus will take you ONLY to the resort where you have your reservation.

Just to repeat ... no such thing as a DME bus from the airport to a theme park. It's very strictly MCO to resorts only.

[tragic312]

this is a very helpful thread. we're using magical express for the first time and i want to know everything before we fly down to Orlando. we did receive our confirmation letter yesterday and it made a mention of yellow tags but we got disney luggage tags with the castle on them. if we use those, will magical express still pick up our luggage?

[CleveRocks]

Originally Posted by tragic312

this is a very helpful thread. we're using magical express for the first time and i want to know everything before we fly down to Orlando. we did receive our confirmation letter yesterday and it made a mention of yellow tags but we got disney luggage tags with the castle on them. if we use those, will magical express still pick up our luggage?

There are 2 different types of tags ... and they are VERY different in every way. What you received are decorative, souvenir luggage tags that are a small perk of booking a package (people who book a room-only reservation don't receive these). As you know, they are hard plastic and come with a small card that can be removed so you can write info on there.

DME luggage tags are paper. Can you picture the luggage tag that gets put on your checked bags at the airport, the one with the 3-letter airline code? A DME tag is sort of like that, only a little thinner and bright yellow. A DME tag is pre-printed with all kinds of info about you and your trip: name, resort, reservation number, barcodes, and some other stuff.

When luggage is unloaded from airplanes at MCO (Orland Int'l Airport) and goes through the bowels of the airport, a combination of airline/airport employees and Disney cast members are constantly on the lookout for any pieces of checked luggage that have a DME tag on them. These bags are pulled from the rest of the luggage ... they never make it to the baggage claim carousel. Instead, they are brought to Disney's luggage sorting facility on the grounds of the airport. There, they are sorted by resort and loaded into locked cages. The cages are loaded onto luggage delivery trucks. The trucks drop off the cages at the proper resorts, and then the resort staff deliver bags to the inside of guests' rooms. Along this entire process, the barcode of each label is scanned 5 separate times (the 5th scan occurs when the CM places your bags into your room). In addition, the delivery trucks are tracked by GPS. What all of this means to you and me is that Disney knows where your luggage is at all times.

You have to make a separate reservation to use DME ... it's free but it's not automatic. I'd advise you to call DME directly at 866-599-0951 to make sure that you have a DME reservation, because by their contract with the airport they are not permitted to accept walk-ups (you need a reservation).

After you get your DME tags, you put one on each bag that you will check with your airline. No one at your home airport and no one at your airline knows anything about these DME tags, and they don't have to. The tags are just a signal to people IN ORLANDO to pull your bags and route them to your room. But they have nothing to do with anything that happens before Orlando, and they'll be ignored before then. These tags DO NOT replace the regular airline tags that get put on each bag.

If you have any more DME questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them!

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by tragic312

We did receive our confirmation letter yesterday and it made a mention of yellow tags but we got disney luggage tags with the castle on them. If we use those, will magical express still pick up our luggage?

No, you have to use the yellow ME tags. The luggage tags go out about 40 days before your trip and the yellow tags come about 21 days before your trip.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by CleveRocks

There are 2 different types of tags ... and they are VERY different in every way. What you received are decorative, souvenir luggage tags that are a small perk of booking a package (people who book a room-only reservation don't receive these). As you know, they are hard plastic and come with a small card that can be removed so you can write info on there.

DME luggage tags are paper. Can you picture the luggage tag that gets put on your checked bags at the airport, the one with the 3-letter airline code? A DME tag is sort of like that, only a little thinner and bright yellow. A DME tag is pre-printed with all kinds of info about you and your trip: name, resort, reservation number, barcodes, and some other stuff.

When luggage is unloaded from airplanes at MCO (Orland Int'l Airport) and goes through the bowels of the airport, a combination of airline/airport employees and Disney cast members are constantly on the lookout for any pieces of checked luggage that have a DME tag on them. These bags are pulled from the rest of the luggage ... they never make it to the baggage claim carousel. Instead, they are brought to Disney's luggage sorting facility on the grounds of the airport. There, they are sorted by resort and loaded into locked cages. The cages are loaded onto luggage delivery trucks. The trucks drop off the cages at the proper resorts, and then the resort staff deliver bags to the inside of guests' rooms. Along this entire process, the barcode of each label is scanned 5 separate times (the 5th scan occurs when the CM places your bags into your room). In addition, the delivery trucks are tracked by GPS. What all of this means to you and me is that Disney knows where your luggage is at all times.

You have to make a separate reservation to use DME ... it's free but it's not automatic. I'd advise you to call DME directly at 866-599-0951 to make sure that you have a DME reservation, because by their contract with the airport they are not permitted to accept walk-ups (you need a reservation).

After you get your DME tags, you put one on each bag that you will check with your airline. No one at your home airport and no one at your airline knows anything about these DME tags, and they don't have to. The tags are just a signal to people IN ORLANDO to pull your bags and route them to your room. But they have nothing to do with anything that happens before Orlando, and they'll be ignored before then. These tags DO NOT replace the regular airline tags that get put on each bag.

If you have any more DME questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them!

WOW that is interesting.
I might just need some more info on DME before we go next year, we have had DME twice in 2006 from the UK but the UK tour operators managed to mess it up both times.

[tragic312]

thanks guys for your helpful information. i do appreciate it. we did get our yellow tags today. that really put my mind at ease. ok, so i put the tags on our luggage before we check in, this is also said in our little booklet that we have to bring with us. it's gonna be weird having to not go to baggage claim when we land in orlando.

i do have two more questions: (1) when we land in orlando and go through the airport, will the DME bus be there waiting for us? (2) on our departure day, when will the bus pick us up? the booklet said something about a 3 hour window. so do we have to be at PC for 3 hours waiting for our bus?

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by tragic312

i do have two more questions: (1) when we land in orlando and go through the airport, will the DME bus be there waiting for us? (2) on our departure day, when will the bus pick us up? the booklet said something about a 3 hour window. so do we have to be at PC for 3 hours waiting for our bus?

When you land in Orlando you will check in at the DME desk and you will be directed to a line for your resort. You may have to wait to be taken to a bus or you may be taken right to a bus. You will have to show your booklet to another CM who will scan the bar code to show you boarded the bus and any carry on luggage will be put under the bus.

You will get a letter the day before you depart with a time time to meet the DME bus for your return trip. It's usually 3 hours before your flight. Don't be late, they don't wait for you.

[tragic312]

thank you disneyteacher for clearing that up for me. i also have another question: when we were booking the arrangements with DME online and added our departure flight information, the time of our departing flight from orlando kept coming up an hour prior to our flight. our flight is at 1:40 PM but it kept reading 12:40. on the day of our arrival, can we tell them that our flight information is incorrect when we booked the information?

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by tragic312

thank you disneyteacher for clearing that up for me. i also have another question: when we were booking the arrangements with DME online and added our departure flight information, the time of our departing flight from orlando kept coming up an hour prior to our flight. our flight is at 1:40 PM but it kept reading 12:40. on the day of our arrival, can we tell them that our flight information is incorrect when we booked the information?

I believe they have always asked me about our return trip when I checked in at the ME desk. Try changing it then.

[CleveRocks]

Originally Posted by tragic312

thank you disneyteacher for clearing that up for me. i also have another question: when we were booking the arrangements with DME online and added our departure flight information, the time of our departing flight from orlando kept coming up an hour prior to our flight. our flight is at 1:40 PM but it kept reading 12:40. on the day of our arrival, can we tell them that our flight information is incorrect when we booked the information?

Yes.

When you land in Orlando and go check-in at the DME counter, one of the standard things they will do with you is confirm your departure information. Yes, it's weird that before you even get to Disney World they ask you to confirm your information about leaving Orlando, but it's good they do it that way. You can wait until then to give them your correct departure flight info. You can do it now by phone if you really want to, but there's truly no need to do it now.

[tragic312]

thank you, cleverocks for answering my question. i kind of figured that we could give them the correct information when we get there. i just wanted to make sure. thanks again!!

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by CleveRocks

Yes.

When you land in Orlando and go check-in at the DME counter, one of the standard things they will do with you is confirm your departure information. Yes, it's weird that before you even get to Disney World they ask you to confirm your information about leaving Orlando, but it's good they do it that way. You can wait until then to give them your correct departure flight info. You can do it now by phone if you really want to, but there's truly no need to do it now.

Ok so step by step, we get off the plane - we don't collect our luggage - we go right to the Disney ME desk - get on the ME bus and off to our resort - then a few hours later our luggage arrives in our room!

[LURK]

Originally Posted by tragic312

i also have another question: when we were booking the arrangements with DME online and added our departure flight information, the time of our departing flight from orlando kept coming up an hour prior to our flight. our flight is at 1:40 PM but it kept reading 12:40. on the day of our arrival, can we tell them that our flight information is incorrect when we booked the information?

Have you double-checked and confirmed your flight information with the airline lately? Airlines are becoming notorious these days for changing departure times without notice. Make sure DME info isn't more correct than yours!

[CleveRocks]

Originally Posted by LURK

Have you double-checked and confirmed your flight information with the airline lately? Airlines are becoming notorious these days for changing departure times without notice. Make sure DME info isn't more correct than yours!

Good advice.

But the other cool thing to realize about DME is that they are hooked into the airlines' computer systems. As long as your flight NUMBER is the same, DME will know about any changes to your flight times, automatically. They will also know if your arrival flight is delayed. Let's say you are supposed to land at 8:00 p.m. but the flight gets delayed and lands at MCO at 3:00 a.m. ... DME will still be there for you because they'll automatically know that your flight is delayed but you are still on your way and will need a ride!

[_landry]

We are using ME and our plane is arriving after 9 p.m. I was wondering if they would be holding my luggage until morning or delivering it to my room in the middle of the night.